A/N: sorry this is sort of a long one. Please review! And thank you so much for all the reviews you've already given. It means a lot!

Rewriting the Scrolls

Chapter 9

By Jinxie

As harvest time arrived, Xena and her brothers were busy in the field bringing in the grain. They had a good crop this year, better than all the prior year's. She was happy that they would make plenty of money this year, as her work at the blacksmith had not brought in a lot of income.

As Gabrielle was on a walk with her father to the inn, she spotted her friends in the field and asked her father if she could go help them. After much begging, he allowed her to go as long as she didn't "get into trouble".

She carefully walked through the field, walking over the sheaths from the grain. "Xena!" she shouted to her friend. The tall brunette girl stood up straight and wiped her brow. Gabrielle finally caught up to her.

"Hey! What are you doing out here?" Xena asked as she took a drink from her water skin.

"My dad and I were on a walk when I spotted you. Guess what I just heard in town?" She smiled brightly, her eyes twinkling.

Xena's stomach clenched, in a good way. "What?"

"There is a harvest festival going on in Tragilus. I heard they have sword-fighting competitions going on. You should try it!" She reached over and brushed some dirt from Xena's arm.

"I don't know, Gabrielle. Do you really think my mom would let me go? I think she is still a little upset I carry this thing around." She motioned to the sword at her side. Her friend looked a little sad; obviously she had been very hopeful that Xena would be excited too. "Hey, it's not like I don't want to. I think it would be really awesome!"

"You could at least try to see if she will let you go." Gabrielle looked over as Toris and Lyceus started arguing. "What's up with them?"

"They've been at each other's throats all day. I don't think they can handle the heat." Xena flashed a smile at her friend.

Gabrielle reached over and took Xena's water skin for a drink. After a few swallows she got a bright idea. "You can handle the heat better than them, huh?"

Xena looked away from her brothers, "Yup."

"I don't know, Xena. You look like you could use a good cooling off." She aimed the water skin at Xena and was ready to toss its contents.

Xena took a step back, "Oh no you don't. Remember the river bath I gave you? Do you want another one?" Xena put her arms in front of her face to protect herself in case water came flying. When it didn't after a moment, she dropped her guard. "I knew you wouldn't."

It was then that Gabrielle released the water straight at Xena's face. She was now dripping wet, her head doused in the cool liquid. She sputtered and spit as the sweaty, salty water went in her mouth. "Yuck!"

Gabrielle dropped the skin and backed up when she saw the look in Xena's eyes. "Now Xena, it's ok to admit that you needed that. I know you were hot out here in the sun. It doesn't make you a wimp like your brothers." The blonde girl smiled big then turned on her heals and ran.

She made it all the way to the end of the field before she turned around to see if she was being chased. She wasn't. "Huh, that's odd. She never gives up that easily." She waved to her friend but Xena just turned around the resumed her work. Great, now she is probably mad at me.

She turned and headed to the inn where her father had gone. It was lunchtime and Cyrene had asked her to tell a story. She was very excited to get this opportunity because Cyrene told her that any tips she received would be hers. It took some convincing of her father to let her do it, but the family needed money badly enough that he finally gave in.

xxxxx

Gabrielle had been helping clean up the inn up after dinner when Xena and her brothers came in from the fields. They looked exhausted and dirtier than she'd ever seen Xena. The trio sat down at one of the tables and Cyrene talked with them. Gabrielle watched from the kitchen, afraid to talk to her friend in case she was mad at her.

Xena looked upset as she talked to Cyrene, so when Cyrene came back in, she mumbled to herself, "Grumpy teenagers. What am I going to do with them?"

"Why are they grumpy?" she heard herself asking, without any forethought.

Cyrene looked over at her kitchen helper. "Xena just asked me if she could go to a sword competition! Can you believe that? Why would she think that would be ok with me? I hate that she carries that thing around so much."

"Oh." It was the only reply she had at the moment. Silence took over the kitchen as Cyrene dished out some food for her kids.

"Gabrielle, would you please take this out them?" She handed the plates to the girl and walked out the back door.

"I guess." She said to the spot that the innkeeper had been standing in. Making her way out to the dining room, she became nervous. She couldn't stand the thought of Xena being mad at her for any reason.

When she arrived at the table, all three siblings looked up. Two sets of blue eyes locked onto the food and one set locked onto her eyes. "Here you go." She handed them each a plate, without looking away from Xena.

The brunette, truthfully, had been a little upset with Gabrielle. But she couldn't stay mad at her once she saw her again. She just couldn't find it in her heart. She patted the empty seat next to her and was glad when Gabrielle eagerly took it.

"I'm sorry your mom said no."

Xena leaned over and whispered, "I'm still going. Let's talk later, ok?" She got up and went into the kitchen, and then returned with a plate of food for Gabrielle. "Eat up."

Gabrielle couldn't believe her ears. Xena was going to sneak out to the festival.

xxxx

After eating, the kids washed up and all went to bed. It wasn't that late, but they'd been up harvesting since daybreak. Gabrielle cleaned up their dinner, then just sat by the fire. Her dad had long since left, but told her as long as she was home after dinner at the inn, then it was ok for her to stick around.

The waiting was terrible since she didn't know exactly what she was waiting for. Xena said they'd talk later, but she had not made any other clues after that. Am I just supposed to wait here for her?

Finally, she got up and prepared to go home. She knew that her father would worry if she wasn't back soon. Walking out of the inn, she was happy to see that the moon was out and bright so she could see the path better.

She was half way home when she heard something behind her. "Psst!"

The blonde teenager turned around and spotted her friend. "Xena, what are you doing?"

Xena caught up to her, "You should ask your dad if you can sleep over tonight. I want to talk to you about the festival." Her eyes were heavy with exhaustion, but she wanted to talk with her friend so badly that she didn't care.

Gabrielle noticed how tired she looked, "Xena, I think you will just fall asleep while talking to me. We can just talk tomorrow, can't we?"

She couldn't hide her disappointment. "I guess." She turned to go back to the inn, but was stopped when she felt a hand in hers pulling her to a stop. She turned around and looked into green eyes, which reflected the bright moon.

"Are you mad at me?"

"No."

"I'll see you tomorrow, ok?" Without consideration to her actions, she leaned in and kissed Xena on the cheek. Her face immediately flushed with embarrassment, she could feel it. She backed away and then ran the rest of the way to her house.

Xena stood, completely still, right where it happened. After a moment, she smiled.

xxxx

Xena slept well that night; exhaustion overrode the swirl of thoughts in her head. When she woke with the sun, she felt ready to take on the day. After a quick breakfast, she was out the door before either brother.

The sun was bright and the morning was crisp. She looked towards Gabrielle's house and smiled. Today was the day that Toris was taking the harvest to Tragilus. She convinced him to let her go with. The only caveat was that neither would be telling their mother. Xena was going to hide in the wagon under the grain until they were on the road.

She told Toris about the sword competition and he wanted to compete as well. She already packed her bag this morning and put it in the back of the grain wagon, which they would load up today. There wasn't much left do to in the field, just a few more yards of work. Then everything would be ready.

She made quick work of the last stalks of grain, chopping them down and bundling them. By the time she finished, the boys were finally coming out of the inn to work. She passed by them on her way to the barn to pull the wagon out.

"Xena, we need to finish the field first." Toris hollered to her.

"Already did! Help me with the wagon then we can load up."

He stared at her instead of moving to help. "How did she do that all herself, Ly? If I didn't know better, I'd think she was Hercules. Come on, let's get this over with."

xxxx

It took them longer than expected to load the wagon full of grain. The last half of the day was spent loading the remaining grain into their storage so they could use it through the winter. They planned on heading out in the morning at first light.

Xena had thought about the sword competition all day long. The closer they got to morning, the more excited she had become. The bandit she fought several weeks ago really bolstered her confidence. She and Toris had ramped up their drills and both became even better as they worked harder.

Walking into the inn at dinner time was a relief to Xena. She loved to hear the sound of patrons talking and laughing. Tonight, though, was different. It was a sound that moved through her ear and directly to her stomach.

Gabrielle was sitting on a stool near the kitchen, reciting a story. The audience was listening quietly in rapt attention. Xena paused in her steps and watched as her best friend made the story come alive. It was about Hercules fighting a minotaur.

After a few moments, Lyceus nudged her and pulled her towards the kitchen. Her mother was busy filling bowls of soup.

"Xena, grab a knife and cut some bread, will you? Lyceus, grab some more plates. Toris, will you get a two more mugs of ale out to table nine?" She barked out orders, obviously not able to keep up with the crowded dining hall.

Xena immediately began to help. "Where is Hecuba? I thought that's why she worked here is to help out?"

Cyrene rolled her eyes, "Well I gave her the night off. When she heard Gabrielle was going to be out of the house, and Lila is sleeping at a friend's, well… she and Herodotus wanted the night alone."

"Eww, stop right there. I don't want to know anymore." Xena finished cutting all the loaves and put them on a large plate. "Do you want me to just take this out and give a hunk to each person?"

"Yes, Xena, that would be perfect. Toris! Will you be finished with the harvest for your trip in the morning? Did I give you enough money to take care of yourself while you are there?"

Xena walked out of the kitchen, wishing she could stay and hear the conversation. The door swung shut behind her and she felt a little overwhelmed with how big the crowd was. She looked at her friend and smiled, though Gabrielle didn't see her.

As she passed out the bread, she heard many people talking about Gabrielle and how good of a story teller she was. Xena's heart swelled with pride over the accolades towards her friend.

xxxxx

The night ended late, but Gabrielle had joined the family in cleaning up. Xena and her brothers were exhausted; in fact, Lyceus had fallen asleep at the table instead of eating dinner. Gabrielle and Xena chatted in casual conversation while they cleaned up.

Once they were done, Gabrielle set out to leave. "Hey wait, come with me. I feel like we haven't talked much lately." Xena said, pulling on her friend's arm.

Gabrielle accepted the invite, glad she was going to finally get the scoop on the festival. "Sure." She followed Xena up the stairs and into the bathing room. "Oh are you going to get cleaned up?" She asked as Xena started taking her clothes off. She immediately turned around to give her friend privacy.

"Yeah, sorry I didn't warn you." She smiled at her friend's shyness. She'd never been one to be that shy about being naked, or anything else for that matter. Once stripped bare, she grabbed a few buckets of water that were left over from last night, and poured them into a small wooden tub. "Ah, that's cold." She exclaimed as she lowered her body in.

Gabrielle had never been around Xena when she bathed, so this was different for her. In fact, she'd only been around her parents and Lila in this type of situation. She turned around and immediately averted her eyes to look at her toes. "Ahem, so tell me about the festival."

Xena realized her friend was staring at her feet. She looked down at herself and realized that the tub didn't exactly cover her up. Oh well. "Ok, so here's the scoop. I'm going to go with Toris. I knew he was going to that festival to sell our left over crop, but I didn't know about the sword stuff until you told me. Anyway, Tor and I started talking and decided that we both want to compete. So I'm going to wake up before mom and him, then hide under the bundles of grain in the back of the wagon."

Gabrielle looked up and locked eyes with Xena. "But your mom said no!"

"I don't care. I'm going. I have to compete with other people; otherwise I'll never get good enough to defend the city." Xena continued to scrub the dirt and filth off her body.

Gabrielle couldn't believe that Xena was going to sneak away like this. "What happens when your mom finds you gone in the morning? She will probably ask me where you went and I can't lie like that!"

"Shhh. She'll hear you. You don't have to lie. I guarantee she will figure out exactly where I went. She knows how bad I want to go." She stood up and grabbed a towel from the stool next to the tub.

Once again, catching Gabrielle off guard, "Xena, warn me, will you? Sheesh."

Xena laughed, "Sorry. I don't see what the big deal is. It's just skin and stuff."

Gabrielle began to blush, "Well I don't need to see it." She walked out of the bathroom and into Xena's room. She sat on the edge of the bed and waited for her friend to get dressed in her shift.

After a few minutes, the taller teenager came in, fully clothed. "Better?" she said as she cocked her eyebrow.

"Much." She said with a nod. "Well, I'm going to go home now. I guess I'll see you in a few days when you get back." She stood up and passed her friend on the way to the door.

Xena stopped her, "It will only be a couple days, ok? Then I'll be back and we can go fishing or something."

"I wish I could go with you." Gabrielle shuffled her feet on the ground, a little embarrassed with how much she wanted to hang out with her friend. No matter how much they saw each other, it never seemed enough for her.

"I'll bring you back something from the festival, ok?" Xena said as she ruffled her friend's hair.

Gabrielle smiled, "Alright. That works for me."

xxxx

The festival was booming with activity. Everywhere they looked, merchants sold a vast array of goods. Almost every booth had something that Gabrielle would love for a present. Xena knew that she had to earn money first though.

Luckily, only the second day had sports to enter in, which left the first day for them to sell their grain. They sold all of it, since grain was always in demand.

The day of the first sword competition, Xena was a bit nervous. Toris didn't think they'd let her compete because she was a girl. So she decided to try to look like a boy. She wrapped herself in a tight cloth to hide her breasts and wore very masculine clothes that she borrowed from Toris.. Since she didn't have a helmet, she had to do something drastic. She cut her hair from the middle of her back up to well above her shoulders. She looked just like Toris when she was done, only slightly prettier. She covered her face in dirt to make it harder to tell she was a girl.

Toris laughed at her, thinking that she wouldn't fool anyone. However, she entered the competition as a male with no problems at all. Her first fight was rough; she was knocked down many times and almost lost. But somehow she had pulled through and used her developing strength to knock down the man that was twice her size.

Toris lost his first fight, but won his second. He ended up with some bad cuts on his face and arms because he wasn't wearing any armor. He was bruised in all sorts of places, making it hard for him to move. Therefore, he dropped out of the competition. However, Xena seemed to excel. She won each fight, though most only by a hair. Her body was hurting just as bad as her brother's but she persevered because of her determination to win.

At the end, she lost the final fight. In her mind, she only lost because the guy was the size of Hercules. But in reality, she knew she lost because her tactic was wrong. She needed to rethink how to take on someone that size. She left the arena with a dislocated shoulder and a large cut on her arm. It wasn't deep, but it stung.

On their way out of town, despite her pain and misery, she stopped at a couple of booths and spent some of her earned money on a gift for her friend. It was a book filled with stories about gods, warlords, and kings. It had action, adventure, and romance. It was perfect for Gabrielle.

She put the book in her bag at the same moment that she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see her best friend standing right in front of her! "Uh, Gabrielle! What are you doing here?"

"I snuck out." She smiled and nudged her friend. "What did you buy from this guy?" she looked around her taller friend to see what the merchant had for sale. It was a booth full of books. "Books? You hate reading."

Xena's cheeks flushed a bit; she'd been caught. "Wait a minute, how did you sneak out? That's not like you."

"I wanted to watch you fight, so I told my dad that you and I were going to go camp up by our fishing hole. Then I followed you here." Gabrielle stepped up into the wagon next to Toris.

Xena was in shock, "That was dangerous! What if someone had attacked you or something?"

Gabrielle just shrugged. Toris chimed in, "Yeah, Gabby. That wasn't very smart."

Xena threw her bag into the back of the wagon and jumped into it. "Well come here, short stuff. Don't sit by grumpy old Toris." She patted the bottom of the wagon next to her. Toris slapped the reigns and they were off in a slow walk.

As soon as Gabrielle was next to her, Xena continued, "So did you see me fight?"

"Yes! Oh Xena you were amazing! I can't believe you beat so many tough men."

Her ego grew about three sizes upon hearing that. "Really? It wasn't that hard, really. I mean, I'm pretty beat up and my arm is dislocated. But it was so fun!"

Gabrielle immediately looked her over and started to wipe away some of the blood with water from her pack. "So what's in the bag?"

Xena shot her a look, then rolled her eyes towards Toris. "Nothing." Then she mouthed, "I'll show you later."

xxxx

The journey home was fun for the girls. They enjoyed the travel and even walked some of the way home ahead of the wagon. As they neared Amphipolis, Xena turned around and shouted to her brother, "Hey we are going to camp out here for the night. You can go on home, ok?"

Toris rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Mom is going to kill you." He didn't fight with her though, he just kept moving towards home.

"Where are we going to camp, on the road?"

"No, follow me." Xena grabbed her hand and pulled her behind until they came to her private cave. "Welcome to my fortress." She threw her bag down on the ground and smiled proudly at the small space.

"Fortress, huh? It's pretty cool, but I don't know about fortress." Gabrielle chuckled at her friend's excitement over a partial cave.

"Ok, so now I can tell you about what I bought at the book stand."

xxxx

The night went by without incident. They talked through most of the night, about anything and everything they wanted. Gabrielle read from the book Xena had bought for her. The stars twinkled overhead and gave them a sense of freedom that neither had really experienced before in this way. Gabrielle decided then and there that traveling on the open road is what she wanted to do when she was old enough. Xena had already known that's what she wanted as well.